April 01, (THEWILL) – Hope Solo, a former American goalkeeper, was arrested in North Carolina on Thursday.
Solo was detained on accusations of Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) and resisting arrest. Due to the fact that two of her children were in the car, she was also docked for misdemeanour child abuse at the Forsyth County jail.
This is Solo’s second arrest. In June 2014, she was charged with two charges of domestic violence assault, after an altercation with her half-sister and 17-year-old nephew.
After Solo’s attorney, Todd Maybrown, filed a motion claiming that her nephew was hitting her with a broom when she “used lawful force” to defend herself, the charges were first dismissed by a judge in January 2015.
Prosecutors filed an appeal with the Superior Court of Washington, and the charges were reinstated ten months later. Prosecutors withdrew the charges in May 2018 after the witnesses in the case decided they did not want to testify in a trial and wanted to move on.
From 2000 until 2016, Solo was a member of the United States women’s national team. She helped the Americans to a third-place World Cup finish in 2007, to finishing second in 2011 and to winning the competition in 2015.
In August 2016, United States Soccer cancelled Solo’s contract and suspended her for six months after she referred to the Swedish side as “a bunch of cowards” after a World Cup match against the Americans.
Since her contract with Team USA was ended, Solo has not participated in a professional game. From 2013 to 2016, she spent parts of three seasons with the Seattle Reign of the National Women’s Soccer League.
Solo, a three-time Olympian, was a member of Team USA in 2008 and 2012, winning two gold medals. When she won the award for U.S. Women’s Soccer Player of the Year in 2009, she became the first ever goalkeeper to do so.
Solo’s legal counsel, Rich Nichols, later sent out the following statement: “On the advice of counsel, Hope can’t speak about this situation, but she wants everyone to know that her kids are her life, that she was released immediately and is now at home with her family, that the story is more sympathetic than the initial charges suggest, and that she looks forward to her opportunity to defend these charges.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
